Health & Environment
Indian Patent Office Rejects Patent Application for Shorter Drug-Resistant TB Treatment
The Hindu2h
THE BRIEF
1
The Indian Patent Office rejected an application by the U.S.-based TB Alliance for the BPaL drug combination used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis.
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Civil society groups welcomed the ruling, stating the combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid lacked an inventive step and was previously disclosed in research.
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India accounts for about 25% of global tuberculosis cases, with an estimated 2.71 million people developing the disease in 2024 according to WHO figures.